The present disclosure relates to image forming apparatuses, and particularly, to a technology for cooling an inside of the apparatus.
A general image forming apparatus has a drum type photoreceptor which serves as an image carrier, a charging section, an exposure section, a developing device, a transfer section, and a fixing section. Such the apparatus performs the following processes: a charging process in which the image carrier is charged; an exposure process in which an electrostatic latent image is formed on the image carrier by exposure; image forming process in which a toner image is formed by supplying toner to the electrostatic latent image; a transfer process in which the formed toner image is transferred onto a recording sheet; and a fixing process in which the toner image is fixed by a heat and a pressure. The photoreceptor is rotatably arranged, and the developing device and the fixing section respectively include a rotary member. When the photoreceptor and the rotary member rotate, a sliding-frictional heat is generated and an internal temperature of the apparatus rises.
To reduce an environmental load, low-temperature fixing toner having a fixing temperature lower than the conventional toner is adopted in recent technologies. Because the low-temperature fixing toner has low heat resistance, when image forming operations are continuously performed in a state where the internal temperature of an apparatus is high, the low-temperature fixing toner is thermally deteriorated due to thermal damage. Thermally deteriorated tonners cause problems in images or aggregate the toner, and sometimes even cause the apparatus to fail.
There are some technologies that adopt low friction members to sliding surfaces to suppress temperature rise. However, the temperature rise cannot be completely avoided. In this regard, technologies in which a cooling mode for cooling the inside of the apparatus, especially the developing device, is adopted have been suggested.